1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the technical field of boots, shoes and leggings. More particularly, the present invention is in the technical field of a shoe attachment. More particularly, the present invention is in the technical field of means attached to a foot covering that uses visible radiant energy that is cast back from itself or that originates from itself to make the means visible or cast radiant energy to make the surrounding environment visible.
2. Background of the Art
Customizing and personalizing footwear for either style or utilitarian purposes is a long standing consumer need. Traditional means by which people may customize their footwear, include choosing what styles of shoes to buy, purchasing different lace or placing adornments on shoes such as trinkets or patches. In addition to the these traditional means, there are other more sophisticated means of ornamentation. For example, previous inventions in the art include; a means which to count the pace of steps (U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,204), means for displaying a picture on a shoe (U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,337), a shoe having individualized display areas (U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,795), motion activated illuminating footwear (U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,764), a fixing structure for lightening circuit on a lightening shoe (U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,338), footwear with light emitting diodes (U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,486), footwear with optic fibers (U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,148), sequential flashing footwear (U.S. Pat. No. 5,903,103), lighted athletic shoes (U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,007), footwear with surrounding ornamentation (U.S. Pat. No. 6,957,504), lighted footwear (U.S. Pat. No. 7,497,037), changeable color inserts for shoes (US patent application 2002/0046476), lightening device for a shoe (US patent application 2003/0145494), role playing shoes with sound and light (US patent application 2004/0172856), footwear containing improved audio/visual displays (US patent application 2005/0091884 A1), logo apparatus for shoe (US patent application 2006/00107021), shoe with animated electroluminescent display (US patent application 2006/0198121), interactive shoe light device (US patent application 2007/0041193 A1), footwear with integrated display (US patent application 2010/0223815), footwear for displaying visual content (US patent application 2010/0233816) and a system for customizing footwear (US patent application 2010/0289971). While many of these inventions achieve a desired level of customization, the flexibility of these devices to integrate with existing shoes in a non-destructive, but easily customizable and broadly ornamental manner is limited.
Ornamental modifications to footwear are generally of two types, (1) temporary and removable modification of an existing “normal” shoe that allow customizable adornment or (2) permanent modifications of a special shoe that enable customizable adornment. For those that are temporary and do not involve a permanent modification of the footwear, the inventions are (or involve) an attachment mechanism to the existing shoe. The design of these temporary attachment mechanisms must account for several features according to the desired functionality of the invention including; position on the shoe, strength of attachment to the shoe, surface area that is covered for ornamental display and ease of connecting/removing the attachment.
When considering the placement of such an attachment there are several inventions that have targeted the laces area. This is presumably for several reasons, (1) because laces are taut and lie on but do not bind to the tongue of the shoe, a firm attachment can be bound to the shoe by either lifting and placing the laces within an horizontal groove of a larger solid object, or (2) an object which has holes can be threaded with shoe laces and affixed the to shoe by tightening (3) The laces area can be easily accessed by the person who is wearing the display, (4) The surface area of the laces region is relatively large and is the most visibly accessible from a 360 degree viewing area surrounding the footwear. However, current inventions that bind ornamental attachments to the laces region of shoes have some deficiencies, related to their ease of use.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,844,552 by Valteau, details a detachable foot shield that is affixed to the laces by means of multiple grooves or hooks on the ventral side, while the dorsal side of the shield provides a platform for ornamental display of logos or insignias. While, this is an effective means of binding the object to the laces, individually manipulating the laces to fit in grooves or holes may be considerably time consuming for detachment of the shield. Further, removal of the shield may require the removal of the shoe and laces. Therefore, a means by which both attachment and detachment of a fastening device for ornamental display that is both rapid and secure may be desirable for consumers of such products.
Another patent that target the laces area as a means to securely fasten an object to that region is US patent application 2008/0288317 A1 by Simon. In contrast to the Valteau patent, Simon details an element that is securely fastened under the laces, not above the laces. It has multiple raised sections to simultaneously stabilize the lateral movement of the device and provide support for attached objects on it's dorsal side. The objects remain attached to the footwear by means of an elastic sleeve that surrounds the object that is to be carried.
While 2008/0288317 has an innovative mechanism to secure some types of objects to footwear, there remain some problems associated with the the design of the fastening mechanism and others with it's capability of displaying and modifying ornamental designs on footwear. For example, the presence of three raised sections on the dorsal side of the element, (one at the distal end, one middle section forming a groove near the distal end, and one at the proximal end) also prevent easy removal and of the device from underneath the laces. In particular the raised middle section, while ostensibly forming a groove that stabilizes the element, may also prevent the device from being easily inserted and removed from under the laces. Additionally, the elastic sleeve which is required to bind the nominal object to the base element would likely cover any desired interchangeable ornamental design and thus render the device ineffective for stylistic and personalization that is desired for the footwear.
Yet another application that details an apparatus to attach an ornamental object to the laces portion of footwear is US patent application 2002/0152645 by Darley et al. Darley et al details a detachable foot mount for an electronic device. Similar to the Simon application, it included a mount designed to be covered by the laces, and additionally a detachable housing that interacts with the mount. Similar to the Valteau patent, individually manipulating the laces to fit through the mount may be considerably time consuming for detachment of the entire apparatus from the footwear.
Regarding the display aspect of ornamentation on footwear, again these can be generally placed into two categories, (1) those with adornments that are physically changed by mechanically replacing one design on a particular material with another, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,337, U.S. Pat. No. 5,367,795, US patent application 2002/0046476 and 2006/00107021 or (2) those with adornments that are dynamically changed by logic-based or programmable light patterns, through the means of bulbs, LED's LCD's or OLED's such as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,764, U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,338, U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,486, U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,148, U.S. Pat. No. 5,903,103, U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,007, U.S. Pat. No. 7,497,037, US patent application 2003/0145494, US patent application 2004/0172856, US patent application 2006/0198121, and US patent application 2007/0041193 A1. With regards to increased personalization and dynamically changing ornamentation, attempts to increase the ornamental flexibility and customization options on footwear are reflected in some recent applications. These applications employ employ lighted screens that communicate with integrated circuits to increase the ease with which “adornments” (in this case, images) can be displayed as part of an integrated electronic display on footwear.
One such application is 2010/0223815 by McGarity which details an integrated visual and audio system within a high end shoe. In the main embodiment of this invention, an LCD or plasma screen is integrated into the footwear at the top of the tongue and acts as a personal transportable display device that is integrated within the shoe. While, the integration of an LCD screen into footwear increases the breadth of customization that can be displayed on the footwear, there are several drawbacks to this invention that leave room for innovation.
For example, in order to add variability to the viewing angles and flexibility in the placement of the LCD, McGarity proposes to have one or more of several incorporated elements designed within the shoe including; an attachment mechanism, a rotatable bracket, a locking bar, internal/external gears, sprockets, a pawl and or velcro. The arrangement of such elements, not mentioned in the application, would necessitate a specific shoe in order for the invention to work as proposed (multiple viewing angles, power source, speakers etc.) and thus customization and adornment of non-invention related footwear would be difficult with this invention.
Further, McGarity proposes that the LCD can be reversibly detached from the shoe and attached to other shoes, but does not give details on how this might work without the supporting elements found in the shoe of the invention. Considering the robust mechanical stresses in the foot area and attempts in the field that are specifically concerned with securely attaching objects to footwear, it seems that the unspecified attachment mechanism on footwear not specifically designed for the invention is not a trivial challenge. Further, the placement of the LCD screen at the top of the tongue may be undesirable for several reasons (1) the top of the tongue is in close proximity to the socks of the shoe and as such bacteria may build up on the back side of the LCD display (2) often times the pant leg covers this part of the tongue which may inhibit viewing of the display, (3) when running, the extra wight of the LCD may induce the top of the tongue to flop back and forth, damaging the LCD (4) the close proximity of the LCD to the shin or top of the ankle, may irritate the skin or cause bruising if worn for extended periods of time.
Another such as invention where the display is designed to be incorporated within the footwear is US patent application 2009/0288317 A1 from inventor Forbes. Forbes describes a footwear arrangement comprising “a footwear unit”, a programmable display and a controller. This arrangement increases the flexibility of customization options by integrating a programmable display into the shoe, which is operably connected to a controller by means of data cable or wireless connection. Similar to the McGarity invention, Forbes footwear arrangement necessitates a specifically designed shoe in order for the invention to work.
As detailed by Forbes, a footwear unit contains “a window” through which the LCD or LED displayed data is visualized through. Such a window present in the footwear unit, would either necessitate (1) alterations to existing shoes or (2) the manufacturing of a footwear unit specifically designed to incorporate the programmable display within it's window. Further, because of the necessity of having a window within the footwear unit, there is a limit to the practical spatial organization that can be achieved (e.g. number of places upon which the programmable display can arranged on the shoe). For example, specific re-location of the programmable display onto a different area of the same shoe is impractical, because it would require more alterations to the existing shoe (e.g. more windows). With Forbes footwear arrangement, one may have to purchase a large number of similarly styled footwear units with different desired positions of a single window and programmable display in order to achieve a higher level of spatial customization.
Additionally, the footwear arrangement as described by Forbes (and McGarity) is for the specific customization of a single footwear unit by a single programmable display regulated by a single controller. Footwear is nearly always styled in duplicate, with identical features including tongue, laces and affixed designs except that they are mirrored for left and right feet. As such, these inventions do not account for the obvious desire to have two (or more) shoe attached programmable displays function as a synchronized inter-related display unit. There are several ways such a synchronization could be achieved that is not described by Forbes and McGarity, such as (1) having a single controller modify multiple programmable displays through wireless or data cable/port means or (2) have the programmable displays communicate relevant synchronization data, independent of a controller. Considering the likelihood that a person may desire symmetrical style exhibitions or a broader and more interactive ornamental display, the ability to coordinate the time-related behavior of the adornments would likely be a highly desirable function.
Forbes also describes that the programmable display has one or more buttons which are used to interact with a controller or modify the display. While seemingly necessary in order to effect the display, or turn on and off the device, such parameters can be controlled wirelessly via computer or smart phone. If no buttons were in fact present on the programmable display, this would leave the programmable display unencumbered with user interface elements which may be desirable from a fashion perspective. Also, button controlled displays would necessitate the person desiring to change a display pattern or turn off the device to bend down and manipulate the programmable device. Further, buttons may be prone to inadvertent activation by bumping into objects with the footwear. Wireless control of the display parameters would obviate the need for a button(s) and prevent some of the above issues.
In addition, Forbes details that the programmable display is attached to the footwear unit by one of three mechanisms, a carrier, a pocket or an adhesive (in the case of the OLED). While it is necessary to have a means by which to attach the programmable display to the footwear unit, each of these mechanisms would likely be have one or more of the following detriments: an overt carrier or pocket may be stylistically undesirable, these attachment mechanisms may involve permanent modifications to the footwear, they also may be susceptible to failures with rigorous foot movement (running) such as in the case of a pocket or adhesive, running, or leave adhesive attached to the surface of the footwear. An attachment means that was both sturdy and easily transferable between multiple footwear without causing permanent modifications to the footwear would be a desirable innovation.
Forbes also proposes that nominal modifications to the programmable display would engender the display with heat, water or stress resistant properties. However, considering that footwear is regularly subjected to many types of extreme mechanical, heat and moisture related environments and that the proposed display may be include expensive components such as OLED, LCD, wireless sensors, pedometers and global positioning systems, the lack of detail in the specification regarding designs, materials, and/or positioning of elements is not trivial. Rather these details are an important part of the design and enablement of the programmable display itself when it is attached to the footwear unit.
Finally, Forbes suggests that many different sources of power, such as outlets, solar power, etc. . . . are able to power the device. While it is reasonable for the mentioned USB port connected to a computer to replenish a rechargeable battery, home outlets and variable current generating means such as solar power, may require a transformer or detailed circuitry for regulating an acceptable voltage for recharging.
The present invention ponders elimination of the associated deficiencies that are present in the art with respect to the personalization and customization of footwear, by providing stylish, removable, secure and modular footwear display modules that are customizable and synchronizable across non-modified footwear worn by one or multiple persons.